March was incredibly productive for our club. We successfully approved changes to our by-laws. We had an enlightening discussion on the Guatemala Literacy Project (GLP), a large Rotary global grant project that has had a profound impact on literacy improvement thanks to the collective efforts of 800 Rotary clubs and 90 districts over the twenty-seven years. (www.guatemalliteracy.org). Emily Swisher, the GLP presenter sends this note,” Feeling grateful to Arden Hills-Shoreview club for such a warm welcome, important questions, and thoughtful discussion. It was an honor to present our project”. Her email describes how you can sponsor a student. I will share this email separately.
Excitingly, our club is poised to proposed TWO significant grant projects: 1) a global grant (~$60K) championed by Rotarian Don Martin for Liberia for providing necessary medical equipment and training for nurses to improve Ear and Hearing care, and 2) a district international grant ($28K) led by Rotarian Dave Newman for farmers in a Nicaragua community, that will directly connect small agriculture farmers with market, eliminate the middleman and thus realize the added value to their product, while potentially exporting a significant portion of their crops. The club will support both these projects by contributing the $3000 each, the remainder to be raised from other clubs and Rotary match grants.
What is commendable about these two proposals is that their potential to foster systemic and sustainable change with the respective communities. Reviewing the proposals, I couldn’t help but recall the teachings during my executive MBA of Prof Marshall Ganz of Harvard University. He emphasized that social change is catalyzed by purposeful individuals or organizations who respond to challenges, cultivate new relationships, and harness economic and cultural influence to drive action.
In the upcoming meeting, I will allocate time for Don and Dave to present their international projects. Thanks to Glenn Bower to encourage his committee members to think differently and propose these impactful projects.
As we continue to invite speakers to our club who shed light on pressing community needs like hunger, homelessness, literacy, and mental health, it is imperative that we delve deeper into the root causes of these issues. Our committees should serve as platforms for identifying these key issues, strategic planning, fostering collaboration, engaging community, and maximizing the potential of grants to enact lasting change.
We will be looking forward to a busy April planning and executing the Taste of Shoreview event, a fundraiser that will support the Slice of Shoreview event during summer. Please help Ken Hola by volunteering to help him conduct this event.
A heartfelt thank you to each of you for your unwavering efforts.
We had two club activities in November-a business tour to VivaQuant and bowling at Flaherty's. Mike Spellman is shown in the first photo doing a Rotary recruitment pitch to the CEO of VivaQuant. Our Ukrainian mom Svitlana works there. They make a patch-style remote cardiac monitors. The last photo shows Mike again with the Erno's discussing bowling strategy. This 'Strike Out Polio' event raised over $700 for the Foundation.
Christmas is the season of joy of gift giving.The joy of brightening other lives becomes for us the magic of the holidays.
Thanks to the giving of stuffed Christmas stockings by 19 of our Club members - and some of their spouses - 57 children of 27 families at Solid Ground had a brightened Christmas morning.
The stockings were stuffed with great care and creativity by all, certainly bringing great joy tochildren who would other wise not experience the magical moments and giving spirit of Christmas.
Once again, nine spouses of our members contributed a creative, loving and caring hand in putting together the stockings for the children.
Overall, many stockings were over stuffed, had the personal names of the children attached or were accompanied by stuffed animals.Onespouse even wrote personalized notes to the children.
One member, as in previous years, donated a huge box of Mrs. Field’s cookies for the Solid Ground staff and families to enjoy.
Without a doubt your stocking stuffers brightened the holiday season for the children and their parents who are struggling to escape homelessness and build of a new life of self-sufficiency.In addition, you are truly modeling for them the true spirit of service above self.
On behalf of the families and their children at Solid Ground, a sincere thank you for your thoughtfulness and generosity this past holiday season.
The long awaited results from our Club’s support of the Winter Coat Drive for the families at Solid Ground are now in. And, once again, thanks to the generosity of our members the families, and especially the children, will be much warmer this winter.
Here is a summary of your contributions, and it is impressive:
Eleven of you directly contributed a total of $1,140 to Solid Ground for the purchase of winter wear, especially for buying hard to find sizes. Of those contributions, seven of you donated $100 or more.
Ten of you contributed a total of 88 coats and a wide assortment of hats, gloves, jackets and sweaters. This total included 36 new children and women coats costing an estimated $950. The breakdown of the coats you contributed to the families at Solid Ground looks like this:
Although hard to estimate, the value of all those gently used coats and assorted other winter wear amounted to about $800.
We were very fortunate to have Dr. David Schultz speak to our club today. Dr. Schultz Is A Distinguished University Professor at Hamline University. He Is Also A Professor Of Law At The University Of Minnesota. In addition to his law background, David Has A Ph.D. In Political Science, a Masters Of Astronomy From James Cook University and A Masters Degree In Philosophy From Binghamton University. He is a three-time Fulbright Scholar who has taught extensively in Europe And Asia, and he has authored more than 45 Books and 200+ articles on various aspects of American politics, election law, and the media and politics. He is regularly interviewed and quoted in local, national and international media. His message to us today focused on the highly polarized state of political opinion and voting trends in the U.S. A few decades ago, our U.S. political opinions fell into a bell curve - with most Americans in the middle. Today we have a bi-modal picture with most of us either on the "right" or "left" and few truly undecided voters in the middle. Because we have the electoral college in place, our upcoming 2024 election will again come down to 5 states that are up for grabs - Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Furthermore, Schultz predicts that it will really come down to 1 or 2 counties in each of these states. The strategy of trying to win independent voters has largely been replaced by trying to "get out the vote" to help offset those that may just choose to stay home given that a majority of Americans are not at all happy with our likely choices - Joe Biden or Donald Trump. If either of these candidates is replaced, strategies may change. Another factor that may play into the outcome is the fact that a full 18% of our electorate will have changed between 2020 and 2024, through a combination of those who have passed away in that 4-year period combined with those that have come of voting age during that time. We all have to stay buckled up for this wild ride!
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